Booze, Grub, and Tunnels
"Booze, Grub, and Tunnels" is the second quest in the main quest line of Washington's Malevolence. Walkthrough The Story After the player is whisked away to the Seabard Angel, Samuel Dacomb's boat, they hear the voice of a person acknowledging the player's awakening. When the player stands up, they are greeted by a tall, lanky man with glasses and a lab coat examining their eyes with an opthalmoscope. The previous knock-out by the Enclave gave the player minor head trauma. A small conversation ensues between him, Sam, and another unnamed woman, when suddenly, the boat crashes. As the player regains consciousness, they hear two men arguing, who turn out to be Sam and the mayor of the town of Merideport, Holden Bailey. Sam immediately dumps Mayor Bailey on the player, who turns out to be feigning anger towards the party, mentioning that the dock they crashed into was just rotting into the sea anyway. He then informs the player of the town's amenities before unceremoniously shooing off the townsfolk that have gathered near the Seabard Angel's crash site. The player later meets up with Sam at the Seaside Tavern, where they are given a more detailed explanation of why they are even on Maddox Island; Sam is after the Rocky Cape Bank, a pre-War bank that is said to house untold riches, yet has not been cracked since before the Great War. Sam tells the player to take Eyes, the doctor from the boat, along with them to find another way to the rest of the island that doesn't end in him having to take a swim. Eyes introduces himself to the player, and informs them of a conversation he had between himself and the barkeep, Natalie Moritz, saying they could interrogate Natalie's father, Ralph Moritz, on the top level of the housing structure in the center of the town. Ralph, an old, broken down man who clearly does not want to be bothered, tells them the way to the other side of the island is through a house underneath the tower with a bomb shelter built underneath that burrows underneath the ravine separating Merideport from the rest of the island, then shoos them off. The player proceeds to the top of the comm tower on the north side of Merideport, where they meet the chief of security, Rallen Jones. Jones tells the player they have to speak with Mayor Bailey to gain access to the bomb shelter. At this point, the player can either speak to Mayor Bailey or outright steal the pass from his desk (which Bailey acknowledges with no shortage of snark), with both actions leading to the player having access to the shelter. The player then travels through the underground cave, the exit coming out near a small farm. They then travel back to the Seaside Tavern, where Eyes explains the situation to Sam. They decide to leave, and as the player attempts to exit the tavern, they are stopped by Natalie Moritz, who gives them a set of data that Ralph had previously gathered on the Rocky Cape Bank. Objectives # Defuse the situation with the Mayor. # Speak to Sam at the Seaside Tavern. # Speak to Ralph Moritz at his house in the center of town. # Head to the old comm tower on the north side of Merideport and speak to Rallen Jones at the top of the tower. # Speak with Mayor Bailey about getting a pass... or, alternately, steal the door key out of his desk. # If you did not steal the pass, talk to Rallen again to gain entrance to the tunnel. # Head to where the tunnel ends. # Speak to Sam after arriving back in Merideport. Trivia * Neither Rallen Jones nor Ralph Moritz were originally part of this quest; the player merely took Eyes to the house underneath the tower to find the exiting point of the tunnel. Ralph Moritz was supposed to be a peripheral character named Ralph Johnson, and Rallen Jones was a late addition to attempt to give the quest more runtime and substance past a basic 'travel from point A to B' quest. * There was originally a planned intro that showed the player docking in Merideport similar to the intro of Point Lookout, however, this was scrapped early in development.